Wednesday

Jan 26, 2011 at 12:01 AM

SAN ANTONIO — The attorney for a Texas teenager who settled a molestation lawsuit against the Roman Catholic church for nearly $1 million said Tuesday the money will help pay for counseling, while the priest who allegedly tried hiring a hit man to kill the boy was set to appear in court this week.

John Fiala, 52, remains in a Dallas County jail on criminal charges of soliciting someone to kill his accuser, who received $946,000 from the Archdiocese of San Antonio in a settlement announced by the church last week.

Fiala, who allegedly negotiated a $5,000 price for killing the boy before police moved in, was scheduled Thursday to make his first criminal court appearance in Dallas since his November arrest, according to court records. Rex Gunter, his attorney, did not immediately return a phone message left at his Dallas office Tuesday.

The boy was 16 when Fiala allegedly began abusing him at a West Texas parish in 2007. The lawsuit filed against Fiala in April accuses him of twice forcing the boy to have sex at gunpoint, while Fiala was the pastor at Sacred Heart of Mary Parish in the remote community of Rocksprings.

Tahira Khan Merritt, the victim’s attorney, said the settlement provided some closure for him.

“But he’s got a long way to go,” Merritt said.

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